Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday made his first official visit to Southern California since taking the post, kicking off his second year in office by presenting awards to 17 sailors, including several Navy SEALs, who recently returned from Iraq. Gates spent 141 days on the road last year, mostly on high-profile overseas trips to regional hot spots and world capitals.

With two wars raging and an election approaching, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has sent senior civilians at the Pentagon a clear message: Be ready to stick around into a new administration to ensure a smooth hand-over in a time of war. But increasingly, the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have considered sending a similar message to Gates.

The Bush administration has asked one of the Pentagon's most unconventional thinkers to conduct a sweeping review of the U.S. military, in the clearest indication yet that senior officials intend to shake up the nation's armed forces and the weapons they use. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has asked Andrew Marshall, head of the Pentagon's internal think tank, to deliver his preliminary recommendations by the end of next week, sources said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday made his first official visit to Southern California since taking the post, kicking off his second year in office by presenting awards to 17 sailors, including several Navy SEALs, who recently returned from Iraq. Gates spent 141 days on the road last year, mostly on high-profile overseas trips to regional hot spots and world capitals.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has asked government ethics officials for another three months to divest personal holdings worth millions of dollars because he has been unable to find buyers, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Under federal ethics rules, senior administration appointees are required within 90 days of taking office to sell assets that could present a conflict of interest.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said Monday that deeper cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear arms would save scarce defense funds in both countries, but he refused to say whether the Pentagon had pressed Congress to make unilateral cuts. He was asked at a news conference about a New York Times article saying the Pentagon had quietly recommended in a report in April that Congress consider unilateral cuts because of weakening security threats coupled with budget concerns.

Once one of the most controversial men in Washington, Robert M. Gates stepped into what passes in the nation's capital for a congressional love-fest Tuesday for the simple reason that he was not Donald H. Rumsfeld. The last time around, when Gates was nominated to head the CIA in 1991, the hearings stretched over months -- with the nominee facing hundreds of tough, personal questions. This time, Gates, nominated to become secretary of Defense, was questioned publicly for less than a day.

William S. Cohen was unanimously confirmed as secretary of Defense on Thursday after unequivocally promising his former Senate colleagues that U.S. forces would be out of Bosnia in 18 months. Describing his words as a "very strong signal for our European friends," the former Republican senator declared at his confirmation hearing: "We are not going to be there. This is going to end at that point."

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to confirm Robert M. Gates as the 22nd U.S. secretary of Defense, giving the former CIA director decisive bipartisan support amid the increasingly divisive debate over the war in Iraq. The Senate voted 95 to 2 to approve Gates' nomination. White House officials said he would be sworn in Dec. 18. The quick handover would mean Donald H.

Once one of the most controversial men in Washington, Robert M. Gates stepped into what passes in the nation's capital for a congressional love-fest Tuesday for the simple reason that he was not Donald H. Rumsfeld. The last time around, when Gates was nominated to head the CIA in 1991, the hearings stretched over months -- with the nominee facing hundreds of tough, personal questions. This time, Gates, nominated to become secretary of Defense, was questioned publicly for less than a day.

Robert M. Gates, President Bush's nominee to become Defense secretary, testified Tuesday that the United States was not winning the war in Iraq and said he would consider new courses of action, including a gradual withdrawal of American troops. Appearing before a Senate committee weighing his confirmation, Gates proved a sharp contrast to outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H.

Donald H. Rumsfeld came to the job of Defense secretary determined not only to remake the U.S. military, but to recast the Pentagon's role in national security. He arrived with a prescription for what he believed ailed the Pentagon. As he later put it in one of his famous "snowflake" memos -- so named by staffers because they arrived in a constant blizzard -- the department was "tangled in its anchor chain."

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has asked government ethics officials for another three months to divest personal holdings worth millions of dollars because he has been unable to find buyers, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Under federal ethics rules, senior administration appointees are required within 90 days of taking office to sell assets that could present a conflict of interest.

President Clinton speculated Thursday that retired Adm. Bobby Ray Inman withdrew as the nominee for secretary of defense because "down deep inside I think maybe he wasn't sure he wanted to go back" to government service. Clinton, in his first public comment on Inman's decision, said Americans "shouldn't lose sight" of Inman's 30 years of military service in which he rose to the rank of four-star admiral.

Sen. Sam Nunn dismissed two aides a decade ago after learning they were gay, and gay rights groups say that disqualifies him from a Cabinet post in the Clinton Administration, a published report said Sunday. The Georgia Democrat, said to be a leading candidate for secretary of Defense, has confirmed that he asked the two openly gay aides to leave because of their sexual persuasion, the New York Times said.

The Bush administration has asked one of the Pentagon's most unconventional thinkers to conduct a sweeping review of the U.S. military, in the clearest indication yet that senior officials intend to shake up the nation's armed forces and the weapons they use. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has asked Andrew Marshall, head of the Pentagon's internal think tank, to deliver his preliminary recommendations by the end of next week, sources said.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said Monday that deeper cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear arms would save scarce defense funds in both countries, but he refused to say whether the Pentagon had pressed Congress to make unilateral cuts. He was asked at a news conference about a New York Times article saying the Pentagon had quietly recommended in a report in April that Congress consider unilateral cuts because of weakening security threats coupled with budget concerns.